You answered your own question. They did not figure much. After watching a few videos of these "rebels" one gets the idea that those people are not strong at figuring anything. Anyone who gave them anything more powerful than bows and arrows committed a crime against humanity.
Another masterstroke by Putin, imo. He got some of his human trash off the streets of Moscow by paying them to go to E. Ukraine. Now they are stuck there, and Putin doesn’t care one whit about it.